No line on the horizon
Aug. 21st, 2009 09:42 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
janne_dGuess where I was yesterday?
AT A U2 CONCERT!!!!
The 360° tour in Sheffield to be completely precise - left my house at 08.30, got there 10.50, queued until 17.00 and got home again at 01.30, and it was totally worth it. Because: I got into the cordoned off area that was inside the stage outer circle, yay!
And the stage this time was amazing - circle in the middle, a ramp at the back to get them down onto the outer circle, but there were two bridges out to the outer ring as well that they walked over and those ones moved around! So I have now seen all members of the band from less than 6 feet away - actually close enough to be real people, OMG. Adam was out over the bridge on our side loads of times, Bono and Edge once or twice (Edge walked right over my head playing Where the Streets Have No Name) and on the outer circle as well and even Larry came over it at one point. And there was room to move and dance and jump because they'd limited the numbers in there and everyone was shifting about as the band and the bridges moved - I never really even had trouble seeing the stage and at my height that is saying something.
Breathe
No Line On The Horizon
Get On Your Boots
Magnificent
Beautiful Day
Elevation
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
(Happy Birthday to Willie Williams)
Stuck In A Moment (You Can't Get Out Of)
Unknown Caller
Unforgettable Fire
City of Blinding Lights
Vertigo
I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight (Remix)
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Pride (In The Name of Love)
MLK
Walk On
Where The Streets Have No Name
(Desmond Tutu speech)
One
Mysterious Ways
--------
(Stop All the Clocks)
Ultraviolet
With Or Without You
Moment of Surrender
Crazy Tonight was this insane dance version that was verging on drum and bass with Larry wandering about the ramp and ring on tom-toms - there was a serious dancing groove going on there and during Mysterious Ways too. We sang the first verse and chorus of I Still Haven't Found without Bono which I find pretty impressive - how many bands can rely on their audience to do that? A bit of Moving On Up by Primal Scream appeared at the end of one song, though I can't remember where now. The light screen stretched out and down almost down to the stage during Unforgettable Fire and that was very cool - very cool to hear that song as well because I wasn't expecting it and it sounded like it could have come off the new album. Sunday Bloody Sunday and Pride one after the other were fantastic and I don't think I stopped jumping up and down from Vertigo until MLK. There was a reading of Stop All the Clocks played with a very robotic voice just before the encore - I thought it would be With or Without You afterwards but it was Ultraviolet which fitted just as well. Bono wasn't doing much talking that I remember - mentioned the A level results coming out and said everyone would have done better than anyone on stage and went round the band asking how many they'd got. Adam and Larry both didn't finish school, Edge said he got more than Bono, which Bono said was hurtful - but true :-) He gave a little speech about Willie Williams designing for them since 1982 (when he was apparently 12) before we sang him happy birthday and they put him on the screen, poor man. And there was a speech about Aung San Suu Kyi before MLK and Walk On. The band outfits were pretty normal this time right up until the encore when Bono came back out wearing a jacket with red LEDs all down the sleeves and on the front - he had a different mic as well, it hung down from the overhead structure and looked a bit like a steering wheel and I'm pretty sure he was swinging on the end of it at one point!
And before I forget, the 360 stage structure overhead was stunning - from underneath where I was it looked like a Klingon warbird or something had landed and there were lights all over the legs and middle spike and the screen hanging in the middle was used for light effects as well as showing the band. Oh, and there was a mirrorball during one song as well!
So I sang my heart out and danced my legs off and my feet still hurt and my neck aches and it was amazing and incredible and I would go again in a second.
AT A U2 CONCERT!!!!
The 360° tour in Sheffield to be completely precise - left my house at 08.30, got there 10.50, queued until 17.00 and got home again at 01.30, and it was totally worth it. Because: I got into the cordoned off area that was inside the stage outer circle, yay!
And the stage this time was amazing - circle in the middle, a ramp at the back to get them down onto the outer circle, but there were two bridges out to the outer ring as well that they walked over and those ones moved around! So I have now seen all members of the band from less than 6 feet away - actually close enough to be real people, OMG. Adam was out over the bridge on our side loads of times, Bono and Edge once or twice (Edge walked right over my head playing Where the Streets Have No Name) and on the outer circle as well and even Larry came over it at one point. And there was room to move and dance and jump because they'd limited the numbers in there and everyone was shifting about as the band and the bridges moved - I never really even had trouble seeing the stage and at my height that is saying something.
Breathe
No Line On The Horizon
Get On Your Boots
Magnificent
Beautiful Day
Elevation
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
(Happy Birthday to Willie Williams)
Stuck In A Moment (You Can't Get Out Of)
Unknown Caller
Unforgettable Fire
City of Blinding Lights
Vertigo
I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight (Remix)
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Pride (In The Name of Love)
MLK
Walk On
Where The Streets Have No Name
(Desmond Tutu speech)
One
Mysterious Ways
--------
(Stop All the Clocks)
Ultraviolet
With Or Without You
Moment of Surrender
Crazy Tonight was this insane dance version that was verging on drum and bass with Larry wandering about the ramp and ring on tom-toms - there was a serious dancing groove going on there and during Mysterious Ways too. We sang the first verse and chorus of I Still Haven't Found without Bono which I find pretty impressive - how many bands can rely on their audience to do that? A bit of Moving On Up by Primal Scream appeared at the end of one song, though I can't remember where now. The light screen stretched out and down almost down to the stage during Unforgettable Fire and that was very cool - very cool to hear that song as well because I wasn't expecting it and it sounded like it could have come off the new album. Sunday Bloody Sunday and Pride one after the other were fantastic and I don't think I stopped jumping up and down from Vertigo until MLK. There was a reading of Stop All the Clocks played with a very robotic voice just before the encore - I thought it would be With or Without You afterwards but it was Ultraviolet which fitted just as well. Bono wasn't doing much talking that I remember - mentioned the A level results coming out and said everyone would have done better than anyone on stage and went round the band asking how many they'd got. Adam and Larry both didn't finish school, Edge said he got more than Bono, which Bono said was hurtful - but true :-) He gave a little speech about Willie Williams designing for them since 1982 (when he was apparently 12) before we sang him happy birthday and they put him on the screen, poor man. And there was a speech about Aung San Suu Kyi before MLK and Walk On. The band outfits were pretty normal this time right up until the encore when Bono came back out wearing a jacket with red LEDs all down the sleeves and on the front - he had a different mic as well, it hung down from the overhead structure and looked a bit like a steering wheel and I'm pretty sure he was swinging on the end of it at one point!
And before I forget, the 360 stage structure overhead was stunning - from underneath where I was it looked like a Klingon warbird or something had landed and there were lights all over the legs and middle spike and the screen hanging in the middle was used for light effects as well as showing the band. Oh, and there was a mirrorball during one song as well!
So I sang my heart out and danced my legs off and my feet still hurt and my neck aches and it was amazing and incredible and I would go again in a second.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
random and pretty much totally unconnected
Date: 2009-08-21 05:32 pm (UTC)I'm really glad you had a good time at the concert though - there's nothing quite like live music, especially a band you love when you're in a venue where everyone else loves them - very glee-inducing.
Re: random and pretty much totally unconnected
Date: 2009-08-22 11:29 am (UTC)there's nothing quite like live music, especially a band you love when you're in a venue where everyone else loves them
Yes, exactly. That atmosphere is really special.
And they're so bloody good live - I've seen U2 4 times now over the years (Zooropa, Popmart, Vertigo and 360 tours) and it has always been this incredible experience but I don't have much to compare it to as I've only seen REM and a couple of other smaller bands live apart from U2. But the friend I went with this time had never seen U2 before but has seen quite a lot of live music and she reckoned they blew every other concert she's been to right out of the water. Whatever alchemy there is between the audience and the performers that makes it work, they have got it in spades.